Women you should know : Sloane Stephens

Perhaps you went to the moon this weekend and missed one of the most important trending tennis stories. If this was you then we are here to give you the highlights.

Sloan Stephans, at just 24 and ranked 957th as of last month made a huge leap to first place by winning the US Open 2017. This is her first grand slam of what we are sure will be many more.

She defeated Madison Keys 6-3, 6-0 in the final on Saturday and we couldn’t be more proud. Madison was also making her first appearance in a Grand Slam singles final. Sloan is now the sixth African American, second unseeded woman in the Open Era to win Grand Slam.

Following a successful 2012 season in which she first reached the second week of a major, she rose to prominence upon reaching the semifinals of the 2013 Australian Open, notably defeating Serena Williams en route. She suffered an injury and underwent an operation at the beginning of this year.

Her mother, Sybil Smith, was a swimmer in 1988 as a swimmer at Boston University and became the first African-American female to be named First Team All-American in Division I history. Sloan has been playing tennis since the age of 9.